Customer Reviews

Saitek P3000 Wireless PC Game Pad & Docking Station

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

The Good
The controller has ample buttons which make it so you wont need your keyboard or mouse. The controller itself is constructed well, and has a great feel to it.

Problems:
1. Wireless - although it says 30 feet, i have found that it needs to be within 3 feet of me for the best results. If its more than 5 feet away, forget it. I had to buy a USB extension cable just to use it, which canceled out the need for it to be wireless. Nothing on it says what gigahertz it is, so i am guessing its not even 2.4GHZ.

2. Although the base is only 2 feet away, in the middle of a game it just starts trailing off in one direction. This is solved by using the keyboard, escaping out, and reloading the joystick software. Its very frustrating when your playing a game like Far Cry and it hasn't saved.

Issues
1. Batteries - this is probably luck of the draw, but i was shipped with one defective battery which should have been caught in quality control.

2. Not all games automatically work with joysticks, so you will need to program it. The Saitek 3000 controller comes with really good programing software to do it. But be prepared to spend up to an hour of programing before using a game, and continually fine tuning it as you play. I dont mind, i just wish they had more scripts on their website for download. I think they have about 12 games only.

Update:
I tried buying the Saitek P2500 which was the same gamepad but not wireless. My game profiles i made on the P3000 didnt carry over. Worse, the P2500 stopped working within the first 6 hours, and I had to exchange it, and that one had problems with the SHIFT button. Finally i returned that also.

Conclusion:
I just bought the Logitech Wingman Wireless Rumblepad, its by far a better gamepad. Its 2.4GHZ, so it has distance. The software to program custom scripts is miles ahead of the Saitek SST software. When you load the profile, it automatically loads the game which it corresponds with.

Please, if your looking for a game pad, get the Logitech. Save your self the 3 weeks on pain I had to go through.

I got two of these as a gift and right out of the box I had problems with them.

I've owned 2 P880's (the corded versions of this controller) for over 2 years now and they are great, the included software for Saitek controllers is brilliant as well. The controllers are well designed and fit comfortably in my hands, they're like the perfect balance of Playstation and XBox size. The only downside is that they only have 1 shoulder button instead of 2, but you get used to that.

So why not go wireless?
Well the only reason I wouldn't recommend these is that the batteries are very poorly designed. Saitek has even recocgnized this on their site and will ship you a free pair of batteries. I got mine a couple weeks ago.
However that still wont solve the problem and like most reviewrs I've tried and tried to get these pads to work with little to no avail.
The individual battery packs actually contain 2 batteries inside; one for the wireless connection and one for the controller display.
The problem is that if one baterry is full when the other is not the charger will not continue to charge the drained battery. so while you may get a display on the controller, you wont get a connection to the PC or vis versa.

There is no easy solution to this problem either. The user must find a way to drain the batteries without damaging the battery pack and hope that they stay in sync after that (which is very unlikely).

If you really like Saitek (like me) I'd wait for a newer model of wireless controllers. Till then stick with the cords or go with a different brand.

As of this date Saitek has seemingly started to release newer versions of their game pads so hopefully there's a more functional version out there soon if its not out already.

Be warned that the 2.4GHz version of this pad is prone to the same problems.

I love the Saitek 880 wired gamepad. So I figured the wireless would be that much better. Unfortunately, my next purchase will be another wired pad to ensure no problems. There's nothing worse than the few times I really need two gamepads that the wireless one poops out. I bought this and the batteries died. I sent Saitek an e-mail and they sent me two new ones. Great, they worked! Then they died soon after. Hopefully their new wireless, which runs on one AA battery will not have any issues. However, this one's a dud.

After 3 days of having this controller, it already started to have problems. The docking station would not pick up charges from the battery anymore making my controller useless. For the amount of money I spent, I am very disappointed.

1 of the 2 rechargable batteries it came with didn't work right out of the box. After over a month, the second battery started having problems; for example, I'd have to keep on re-inserting it into the gamepad or the recharger before it recognized it was in.

I contacted customer support about the problem. They said my batteries were defective and that they would mail me new ones. I never received it, and this was months ago.

There are other problems too. The calibration of the analog sticks gets messed up during gameplay occassionally. Sometimes, the buttons aren't responsive; you press a button and it either doesn't register or registers late. Lastly, the rubber on the analog sticks wear out badly after a year (I don't even use it that much b\c of the battery problems).

The feel of the gamepad alone is good though. The buttons are in comfortable places, and there are enough of them to be able to setup most games. Unfortunately, the performance\quality isn't good.

I've gone through three of these, and they all had the same problems. A quick view of these reviews and reviews on CircuitCity's website shows the same problems. What makes it even worse is you'll see threads stating the same issues on Saitek's support forums, with their main support guy vehemently denying that there are problems with this gamepad.

The batteries are cheap. They're often dead out of the box (meaning they can't take a charge). They die with minimal use. If you fully charge them too often, the charger kills the batteries.

The analog sticks have a LARGE dead zone, and suffer from calibration issues. The dead zone seems to have been thrown in to hide the calibration issues, so you'd have to hold the stick all the way in one direction to get any response. However, even with that, each stick seems to pull in a direction by default, due to the calibration issues.

I've heard of problems with their range (earlier models were 900mhz, newer ones are 2.4ghz, I own a 900mhz). To be honest, I got mine responding fine about 25 feet away. So while others may have had issues here, I had none.

The main reason to buy a Saitek over, say, a Logitech had to be the grip. Unlike Logitech, this gamepad doesn't feel like a PS2 controller. Personally, I never liked the Playstation brand controllers, so that was the main selling point for me. However, in terms of functionality, I wish I'd have gone with the Logitech.

If you're looking for a gamepad, please follow my advice. First, decide if you want wired or wireless. If you're hooking up your PC to your televison and playing across the living room, then maybe wireless is for you. However, if you're just playing at your PC, please just get a wired controller. Due to the way the base station has to be plugged in, it's practicly the same anyway.

After that, go to CC or Best Buy and FEEL the controllers. The main advantage of a Saitek over Logictech, for example, is that Saitek's don't feel like PS2 controllers. If you love the PS2 style, get a Logitech. If you can't stant the PS2, consider a Saitek or Thrustmaster.

If you do decide on a wireless controller, do NOT buy this one. It has nothing but flaws.

bought this particular item from another website. should've checked out amazon's reviews first. like everyone else, i received a defective battery. i actually shipped the gamepad back and got a replacement from the vendor. and the replacmenet sucks just as bad.

while the batteries seems to work, the gamepad has massive calibration problems, even with Saitek's recommended fixes. it takes me about five minutes of fiddling around the analog sticks, unplugging/replugging the batteries, for it to work properly. i've only had it (the second gamepad) for a few weeks, and it only seems to get worse.

this is the worst product i've ever bought, and i will never buy a product from Saitek again.

(btw, if you include the return shipping charges, i've spent over fifty dollars on this gamepad. last week, circuit city had a rebate for it to make it less than twenty total. hey saitek - you suck!)

i strongly urge amazon to discontinue carrying this product.

The only major problem is the battery. It "dies" after a while. Actually, it doesnt die, it's just loose inside the casing and eventaully pops out of its socket. To fix it, slide a screw driver into it to break the glue. Put the two batteries back in place, and slide the top back on. It works now!
Even though it's easy to fix, it's basically a defective product until you fix it yourself. You get 3 stars. (very fun with working battery)

I love the feel of this gamepad...after trying several others this is the best. The wireless works ok, i was 20 feet away and it was working.The batteries are what needs improving according to many posts. I thought i had a dead battery but it ended up being a bad connection inside. With a small screwdriver pushed up through the bottom can take apart the battery case. on the positive side of each battery there are two small pieces of plastic. you just need to push these down so the battery has a better chance of connectiing. i also found new batteris at interstate battery store, 1 dollar each. The analog sticks could be a little tighter, but i like the d pad. wireless is great!

I purchased this unit and the two batteries stopped charging after 2 weeks. I was sent 2 more from Saitek and after 1 week these both stopped as well..... This is not worth the time and effort, look into other products